"First, Do No Harm" - There is a Time and a Place to Come Out

Passover is the Jewish season of liberation and revitalization. Unfortunately, not only are Israeli Jews maintaining an occupation soon to become a half-century of deprivation of the rights of the Palestinian people, but also fifty years of denying the best of themselves, and particularly their youth, in maintaining that occupation. Each year we learn that the generation of Hebrews who lived as slaves in Egypt had to die off before their children were allowed into the land of Israel, because of their slave mentality. Today the oppressed and the oppressor are bound in a dehumanizing choke hold which drains the decency and hope from both.

The irony is the state of Israel is stronger than it's ever been, but that strength is damaging the weakest among them. Similarly, while the trans community is clearly winning the battle for acceptance in the United States, the most vulnerable among us still pay a high price. This is a difficult column for me to write, because I work so everyone will be able to live authentically. It needs to be said, however, that transition may not be the right answer for certain individuals in a particular place and time.

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